CPI-ML (Liberation) general secretary Dipankar Bhattacharya on Sunday took a dig at chief minister Nitish Kumar’s recent statement that “the BJP should project a person with secular credentials as a prime ministerial nominee”.

Bhattacharya, while addressing a news conference here, said the chief minister’s comment smacked of “petty politics”.

“Nitish’s comment was intended to divert people’s attention from other important issues. He is the man who shook hands with Narendra Modi in Ludhiana and now he is talking about secularism,” said Bhattacharya.

He added: “It is nothing more than petty politics. When Gujarat witnessed the Godhra carnage, everyone slammed Modi but he (Nitish) was the one who did not even react to the situation and preferred to stay with the NDA,” said Bhattacharya.

He added: “Nitish is talking about secular credentials. Does he know the meaning of it? On one hand he allowed Mukhiya’s (slain Ranvir Sena chief Brahmeshwar Singh) supporters to vandalise the city at the cost of people’s lives and on the other hand he talks about secularism. The word does not go well with him.”

“Moreover, if Nitish thinks he had committed a mistake during the Godhra carnage (by continuing with the alliance with the NDA) then the time has come when he should leave the NDA.”

“It is a fact that the RSS runs the BJP and Nitish is a part of the alliance. He talks about justice with development in Bihar but are the people of this state getting justice? If Nitish talks about transparency and justice then he should come out of the NDA,” Bhattacharya added.

On the presidential candidate issue, Bhattacharya said though his party has only one MLA across the country, it would neither support the UPA candidate nor the NDA’s.

“Our party will not support any of the candidates announced by the UPA and the NDA. There is not much difference between the two parties,” Bhattacharya said. He added: “The CPM has decided to support the UPA candidate. It is disappointing.”